Heartbreak Ridge
by Mrs. Sherlock Holmes
Summary: Follow the Courier Kate as she journeys across the Mojave Wasteland in search of purpose and a place to hang up her guns for good. Our story begins when Kate tumbles into Novac and meets a surly sniper named… Oh yeah, you know his name, and you know where this is going eventually
1. Chapter 1

_This fic is based on Fallout: New Vegas and contains quest spoilers. All characters, places, and situations are the property of Bethesda Softworks. Follow the Courier Kate as she journeys across the Mojave Wasteland in search of purpose and a place to hang up her guns for good. Our story begins when Kate tumbles into Novac and meets a surly sniper named… Oh yeah, you know his name, and you know where this is going eventually…Contains language and PG-13 romance later. Please read and review if your little heart goes pitter-pat for Boone like mine does. _

Kate strode into the little town, kicking tumbleweed out of her way as she went along. Still stunned by the horrors she had seen in Nipton she steered herself vaguely towards a sign that said "Dino Delite Motel." Inside she was met by a grey haired woman counting caps behind a desk.

"Well now dearie, welcome to Novac! Been a little while since we've had a new guest. I'm Jeannie Mae Crawford. I've got a room on the ground floor available with a nice view of Dinky. Only 35 caps a night if you're needing a place to stay."

"Actually I'm looking for someone." Kate said, not sure who or what "Dinky" was.

"You'll want to talk to Manny, the sniper up in the dinosaur. He sees everything and anyone who goes by on the road." The old woman pointed out the window to a 30 foot tall, fiberglass tyrannosaur looming over the road in front of the motel. Clearly Kate had been so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she had missed the iconic Dinky when she came into town. She thanked Jeannie Mae and went to find the sniper.

Dinky, like everything else in the Mojave, had seen better days. The blistered and peeling paint that covered his hide was the palest of greens, bleached by time and fallout. The sun was going down as Kate went up two sets of stairs through a gift shop and pushed open the rickety door set in the dino's mouth. Manny's back was to her and the door, but as soon as it creaked open he spun and pointed his rifle directly at her head.

"Oh shit!" her arms shot up and struck the red flaking roof of Dinky's mouth, showering them both with flecks of paint and dust.

"What the…you shouldn't sneak up on a man like that." He growled, lowering his rifle.

"Sorry I was looking for the sniper who sits up here. I heard he may have some information that I need."

"Yeah well I'm not real sociable so if you don't mind…" he nodded towards the door and went back to staring out at the darkening Mojave. She was not stunned at the rudeness of this "Manny" jerk. Hell, she had been shot in the head, stabbed, bit, trampled, and nearly gang raped by raiders, all since arriving in Goodsprings a week earlier; surely she could handle one cold shoulder. Mere rudeness without any physical attack at least gave her time to study her newest wasteland close encounter with the asshole kind. He stood about 6 foot tall, muscular, and wore a tight fitting white t-shirt and khaki cargo pants and his close cropped blonde hair was crowned with a red beret. He wore sunglasses, ridiculous in the twilight, and had a .308 service rifle with a telescopic sight slung across his chest. By the time she had made this mental inventory Kate was growing angry. What right did this jerk off have to speak to her that way?

"Hey, you can just fuck off pal. I'm tired of being pushed around by assholes everywhere I go. This time I'm not leaving until I get some answers so get used to me standing behind you Manny." Without turning around, the cold, flat voice of the sniper slithered into her ears.

"I'm not Manny lady, and you can stand there till your hair falls out but I've got nothing to say to anyone in this town."

The revelation that this was not the man she was looking for dumped a bucket of ice on Kate's temper. She reached for the door and turned the knob as quietly as possible before creeping out of the sniper's nest. Still she couldn't resist a parting shot.

"Sorry but I'm not from around here."

The sniper's head inclined slightly and she head him mutter, "you're not from around here… Hey! Wait!"


	2. Chapter 2

The crack of the .308 and the fine pink mist that followed had Kate stunned for a moment. She stood still, watching the smoke wafting from the dino's mouth where Boone had fired his perfectly placed shot into Jeannie May Crawford's cranium.

Well that was… weird, though Kate. Not that she had never seen someone's head explode before, but to have led that person to their death herself was a little shocking. She supposed Jeannie May had deserved it for selling Boone's pregnant wife into slavery, but it was still a little hard to shake off the chill of watching an execution like that. She felt numb as she ascended the creaky wooden stairs clutching the bill of sale in her hand. Boone just looked at her with no emotion in his eyes and asked, "So, how did you know?"

She handed him the bill of sale and his beret. He read the note, tore it into pieces and let the hot Mojave wind blow it from his fingers. They watched them float out of sight against the velvety night sky.

"Well that's done. Time to move out of this town." Boone shouldered a battered rucksack and slung his rifle over his shoulder.

"What will you do now?" Kate asked as she followed him out of the gift shop.

"Haven't given it much thought. Maybe join up with my old NCR unit."

"I'm headed towards New Vegas. I have…business there." she said, hopefully. "I could use some help getting there in one piece."

He turned and looked at her through his dark shades, his expression unreadable.

"Look miss, uh… hell I don't even know your name."

"It's Kate." she said, trying not to sound too eager.

"Well Kate, I'm kind of a solitary guy."

"Yeah, but you're a sniper. Don't they usually work in teams to be most effective?"

"That's true, but…"

"I need a job anyway, maybe the NCR needs two new recruits." She barely managed to avoid a childish "pleeeeeezzeee."

He stood stock still in the swirling dust for a long minute. Finally he heaved a sigh and dug into his rucksack, pulling out a worn beret, just like the one he wore on his own head. He snugged it down over her hair with less than gentle yank.

"Alright, but you really should change your mind. I've got bad things coming to me."

Without a chance for questions he picked up his bag and began a swift march towards the distant lights on the northern horizon. Kate had to run to catch up. They walked until dawn when they stopped at a little trading post called the 188. Kate spent an obscene amount of caps on a sniper rifle and enough .308 ammunition to take down Caesar's Legion single handedly. Boone watched silently as she lay prone on the broken pavement, shooting at, and mostly missing the giant ants in the nearby dry lake bed. He listened to her curse for 20 minutes or so before he grunted and knelt down beside her. He silently adjusted her grip on the rifle and then lay down next to her with a pair of rusty binoculars.

"You're hitting six inches too high. Bullets rise above your sight picture so aim lower than you think you need to." Her next shot split the worker ants head right between the antenna. Kate smiled and glanced over at Boone, but no words of praise were forthcoming. She tried to hide her disappointment and continued picking off worker ants. After a while she got tunnel vision and forgot to glance up from her scope occasionally. Her first clue that something was wrong was a hot blast of fire that singed her face on the right side. She rolled quickly left and jumped to her feet in time to see Boone plunging a wicked looking combat knife into a soldier ant's abdomen. The ant collapsed into the dust and Boone wiped the knife on his trousers. Kate bowed her head, ashamed of her lack of perception. Boone didn't look at her, but as he strode past, headed for the 188's canteen he muttered, "Don't get tunnel vision" as though they hadn't just been nearly roasted alive.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day they cut back east towards Boulder City. Kate had heard rumors that the man she was looking for may have passed through there. The man…more like vermin, was called Benny, and he was responsible for the bullet that had passed through Kate's skull a while back. Lucky for her she was found quickly afterwards and was only "mostly" dead. She had been patched up by Doc Mitchell in Goodsprings. Now Kate was trying to track down her would be murderer and find out why he had given her lead poisoning over a small, platinum poker chip.

They strode into Boulder City and found themselves in the middle of a crisis. According to NCR Lt. Monroe, some tribals known as the Great Khans were holding some NCR troop hostage in the town ruins.

"We're at a stale mate right now. I don't even know if my people are still alive." Said the Lt. with a weary shake of his head. Kate though for a moment. If there was one thing she was really good at it was diplomacy.

"Maybe I could negotiate with the Khans, and get your men released?" she offered.

Lt. Monroe seemed to consider this for a moment.

"You're not NCR though…oh, screw it. Get my people out alive and I'll deal with any flack from the higher-ups."

Half an hour later Kate had not only "convinced" the Khans to release the captive soldiers, she had gotten an earful about her target Benny. After watching Kate twirl her hair in one hand while juggling a plasma grenade in the other, the Khan named Jessup had been all too eager to stammer out that Benny had gone to the Top's Casino in New Vegas. Soon they were on their way back towards the big lights. Kate reflected that it had been a satisfying day for everyone. Jessup was happy to leave with his organs on the inside of his body, Lt. Monroe was happy to get his men back, and Kate was happy that she was one step closer to Benny. The only person who didn't seem happy was Boone, but this was becoming a familiar state of affairs so she paid it no mind.

Later, after they had made camp in the wasteland, Kate asked Boone if he was excited to be going to New Vegas.

"Whatever," he replied with a grunt, "makes no difference to me, but just what are you going to do with this Benny guy when you catch up with him?"

"Oh, I have a plan." Kate said with a smirk on her face and a glint in here eye.

Two days later Kate was standing in the owner's suite at the Tops casino. A slick haired guy in a garish black and white checkered suit had just locked the door behind him and was approaching her with a wicked smile on his lips.

"Benny's gonna show you the Tops baby." He purred as he ran his hands down Kate's sides to her hips and leaned in for a kiss. The next thing that went through his mind was a bullet from his own 9mm pistol. Kate had eased it from its holster and brought it up to the back of his head while he was distracted.

The guard outside heard a muffled thump from the suite, but wrote it off to his boss's vigorous sexual practices.

Kate found what she was looking for in the pocket of Benny's coat. It was small, shiny, and totally worthless to her. She waited a few minutes and then ruffled her hair and disarranged her clothing slightly before easing out of the suite and passing the guard with a wink. Once outside the casino she walked across the street to the fountain in front of the Ultra Lux. She stood there for a moment with her eyes closed and wished.

Boone watched her from where he stood, propped against a magazine rack, mouth twitching into the smallest of smiles as he saw her chuck the platinum chip into the fountain. She turned and straightened her hair and clothes, retrieving her weapons from Boone as he held them out to her.

"That guy Benny," he said quietly "he was a real piece of work."

Kate barely managed not to giggle.


End file.
